Nursing & Midwifery News – October 2021

From Shane

This month I want to start with sharing some of the good news – several rays of light breaking through a stormy COVID sky.

For the fourth year in a row Western Health achieved a 100% match for our graduate program. With the launch of our new Grad+ program, we also continued to strengthen the alignment of our chosen candidates, with people who chose Western Health – which means we are attracting the best and brightest.

There is no doubt that our Emergency nurse are incredible people that work in a demanding and relentless environment. The recent recruitment for our scholarship program for the Post Graduate Certificate in Critical Care (Emergency) has attracted strong interest from internally and externally from really high calibre people. This is great news as we continue to grow, and I am so looking forward to seeing our Emergency nursing teams significantly expand to provide Best Care to our community.

This month Western Health’s COVID-19 Vaccination Hub will reach an remarkable milestone – administering our 1,000,000th vaccine. This amazing, hard working team has done a superb job of vaccinating our community. We are so close to getting to our target and beyond. With the first deadline for mandatory vaccination for healthcare workers also occurring this month, please ensure that you get your jab and that your vaccination records with us are up to date.

October will also see the launch of the new Nursing & Midwifery microsite. This new resource for nurses and midwives is designed to keep you informed, up to date and provide you with the information and resources that you need. It will continue to grow, and will be updated regularly – so hopefully it will become a place you visit regularly.

The Inspire Awards are being held this month, which is something that I especially enjoy. I just love seeing astounding people being recognised for going above and beyond. What is accomplished each and every day at Western Health is humbling. I have no doubt that there will be lots of nurses and midwives in the mix – and I can’t wait to celebrate these super-stars.

In more sobering news, we have updated our Crisis Model of Care for COVID surge, based on learning from 2020, the projected modeling and the current workforce situation. I have included an outline of this below. I truly hope that we never have to implement this plan – however it is important that we are ready in case we do. I know that the dedication, resourcefulness and resilience of our people will get us through whatever may come our way. We are people that care for people, when they need us most.

Finally my sincere thanks to our nurses and midwives that have selflessly been redeployed to other departments and helped out our colleagues that need support at the moment. I am continually in awe and so proud of being part of the Western Health team.

Look after yourselves and each other, continue to be kind and please stay safe.

Shane Crowe
Executive Director, Nursing & Midwifery

Crisis Model of Care

Western Health has been working to renew our Crisis Model of Care plan for nursing and midwifery to update it based on our learning from 2020 and also to align it with the very different challenges that we face in 2021.

Our Crisis Model of Care is a plan to put us in the best position possible to be able to deal with all potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health service and our staff.

There is a need to establish workforce models that will be able to respond to the both the anticipated increase in demand, the associated increase in personal leave and the limited number of nurses and midwives.

A crisis nursing/midwifery model of care and staffing profile for each surge level at Western Health has been developed to provide safe patient care and ensure that staff workloads are controlled as much as possible.

We have been actively recruiting for months now to build staffing capacity, and to date Western Health has recruited hundreds of additional nurses. There is no cap on the number of nurses that we are recruiting – we are trying to get as many staff to join our team to weather any COVID-19 storm that may come our way. We have also introduced a new COVID Vaccination Graduate Program, where we recruited an additional 220 graduates onto our team. This is great, however the demand for nursing has never been as high, with nurses actively involved in all aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic management – including vaccination, contact tracing and testing. Combined, these take many hundreds of people to undertake these vital roles – and the majority are nurses.

We need to keep on vaccinating, as vaccination is our way out of this pandemic. Similarly testing and contact tracing are essential to identifying and managing outbreaks.

Central to Western Health’s Crisis Model of Care 2021 is having the right people, with right skills, in the right place at the right time.

Many of the roles being undertaken by nurses in these roles can be undertaken by others at the moment, and therefore over the past months Western Health has been actively employing hundreds of additional COVID-19 support roles including:

• Registered Undergraduate Students of Nursing (RUSON)
• Registered Undergraduate Students of Midwifery (RUSOM)
• Allied health students
• Paramedic students
• Personal Care Attendants.

These roles are an ‘emergency authorised’ workforce that are able to be trained to work in the COVID Vaccination Hub and administer vaccine under the delegation and supervision of a nurse.

Our wards:

Western Health’s Crisis Model of Care will see our nurses working in the Vaccination Hub be progressively redeployed into our wards and clinical departments when required.

There will be continuous monitoring to ensure that this is undertaken in a balanced way, with the right timing, to ensure that our wards and clinical departments are kept safe whilst we continue to vaccinate our community.

We are working with these staff to educate and support them to make this change, and will put them on supernumerary time initially to help them get settled.

We have already enacted the first 3 phases, with groups of these nurses progressively moving from the COVID Vaccination Hub into our wards.

Please take these new staff under your wings, and be kind to them. They will have varying experience in working in the ward environment, but they are here to help and will fit in quickly with some support and guidance. We are all in this together.

Our specialty areas:

Nurses with post-graduate qualifications have been identified, and training is being provided to nurses with previous experience in ICU and ED, to be able to refresh their skills and knowledge.

Additionally ward nurses that have volunteered to help out in ICU and/or ED are being given training and inducted to working in the ICU and ED (within their scope of practice) to support our critical care and emergency nurses.

Crisis Model of Care:

We had a Crisis Model of Care in 2020, and thankfully the additional nurses that we employed was able to meet demand. Unfortunately in 2021 the modeling predicts that the COVID-19 demand is going to be much higher, within an environment where the workforce is already stretched. Once lockdown is lifted, this will likely lead to significantly more COVID cases as the unvaccinated population and the small percentages of vaccinated population need hospital care. We have seen this occur overseas.

Our Crisis Model of Care is planning for the worst, and we hope that it will not need to be implemented. If it does need to be implemented, it will likely evolve on a ward/department basis – dependent upon the volume and nature of any surge in demand/activity and the levels of personal leave from nurses/midwives. Only in the worst case scenario will this need to be implemented across the whole health service. If it needs to be implemented, changes will only be in place for the period of time required to manage the pandemic. The Crisis Model of Care has included consultation, including presentation to ANMF.

The model comprises 3 phases:

• Surge 1 – Hospital Vacancy requests (excludes Vaccination and testing hubs) remain below 204 per day
• Surge 2 – Hospital vacancy rates (excludes Vaccination and testing hubs) are between 205 and 249 per day&/or clinical demand/activity dictates that additional beds are needed beyond what can be achieved through business as usual processes.
• Surge 3 – Hospital vacancy rates are above 250 per day &/or clinical demand/activity dictates that additional beds are needed substantially beyond what can be achieved through business as usual processes.

Western Health intends to ensure that all reasonable efforts are made prior to adjusting a ward/department’s status to an elevated surge level.

The possible implications and strategy for the surge levels are:

• Surge 1
  Maintenance of Safe Patient Care Act staffing requirements through business as usual processes. Hospital vacancy requests are less than 204 per day, acuity is manageable & replacement of personal leave is achievable with either bank, pool or agency staff.
• Surge 2  
  The vacancy request is above 204 per day, together with increased demand & clinical acuity may mean that very limited nurses/midwives are available to meet demand. Western Health would be forced to implement measures to ensure that patients continue to receive care.

One of the options during Surge 2 if to change to 12 hour shifts for some of our staff to decrease the overlap time for double staffing therefore maximises staff social-distancing, increases the hours of direct care reducing pressure on night duty staff and maintains nursing/midwifery ratios for day and nights as long as possible. The changes also increase ‘downtime’ for staff to assist with well-being and rest between blocks of shifts.

We would look at optimising staff, which would decrease supernumerary time and we may need to look at shift times decreasing.

In this instance non-clinical nurses/midwives would be reassigned to clinical roles where possible.

• Surge 3 – may mean that no nurses/midwives are available to meet demand or cover vacancies. Western Health would be forced to implement measures to ensure that patients continue to receive care.

Unfortunately, ratios may need to reduce to 1:6, 1:6, 1:8 across acute wards. If this needs to occur, we would attempt to send a COVID support worker to work under the nurses’ delegation and supervision so our teams have the same number of people (where a nurse/midwife is not available). This would including RUSON, RUSOM and PCA roles in wards, and ward nurses in ICU and ED.

Staff would be working to top of scope, and delegating any aspects of their role that can be safely assigned to other roles (including members of the COVID-19 Support Staff). Any delegated task would be undertaken under the supervision of the Registered Nurse/Midwife.

No role would be asked to work outside of their scope of practice or educational preparation.

Education:

To support this, education programs have commenced in:

• Delegation and supervision
• ICU refresher/re-induction
• ED triage/induction
• Ward refresher/re-induction
• HDU programs for assigned wards

We have all experienced the pressure that COVID-19 can place of health systems. Western Health is planning for the worst and hoping that we never have to use these measures. Our plan aims to maintain:

• a safe workplace,
• the best possible skill-mix of staff to ensure that the best possible care is provided to our patients,
• staff workloads, through the provision of supports and resources,
• the well-being of our staff and teams.

It is possible that we may be asked to work harder, longer, in a different way and sometimes out of our comfort zone. This will require flexibility and resilience. This model of care will ensure that our colleagues working clinically are supported. Experienced staff will support those in the early years in our professions, as we always do.

Thankfully this year we are not seeing our nurses and midwives being infected by COVID-19 within our hospitals. Vaccination, PPE and air handling really is making a difference.

The Directors of Nursing and Midwifery and the Nursing & Midwifery Executive stand tall with you, and will be here for all of our nurses and midwives however hard it gets. We stand together. We are committed to ensuring that we support our amazing nurses and midwives through this period of COVID surge, and doing whatever we possibly can to keep workloads achievable and patient care safe.

If you have any queries do not hesitate to talk to you manager or Director of Nursing & Midwifery.

Grad+ Match 2021

Western Health has yet again achieved a 100% match for our graduate program. Of course, next year is the launch of our new Grad+ program – which will be a 2 year program, with 4 rotations and 2 free Western Health taught post-graduate subjects. These post-graduate subjects will be accredited by 5 universities – which will make post-graduate education more accessible, affordable and achievable for Western Health nurses and midwives.

Pleasingly this year, with the launch of Grad+ the match has continued to improve upon the match – whereby the people we are choosing are also choosing Western Health. This is really positive news – as Western Health continues to attract the brightest and the best. Well done to the Education Unit team.

Available to work extra shifts? HeWS will let us know

To meet surge requirements invariably our staff will be asked whether they are able to work extra shifts during the COVID-19 pandemic. An amazing number of our part-time staff said that they could work extra shifts – that’s fantastic!

It is possible that we will need any many nurses and midwives as we can get, working as many shifts as they can. So, if you are available to work extra shifts, you are strongly encouraged to use the Health-e Workforce Solutions (HeWS) system.

Firstly, if you don’t have a Health-e Workforce Solutions (HeWS) account here’s how to register.

You can update your personal details any time in My Profile.

After you have created an account, on the Calendar, click and drag to highlight your availability and then save. To remove availabilities click on a yellow cell and save, and the change will then be updated.

When you save you availability, the Nursing & Midwifery Workforce Unit can start assigning you shifts instantly. Shifts will be offered and you can accept the shifts all by SMS. To accept the shift you can either:

• click on the link in the shift offer which will direct you to the offers pager within the Availabilities app, where you can accept the shift.
• reply by texting the 3-digit code in the SMS shift offer.

A confirmation SMS will confirm you have been booked.

You can view your weekly calendar for upcoming shifts and existing availability in My Shifts.

All part time staff are strongly encouraged to create and account and use the HeWS system to book in any extra shifts. This is preferred even when COVID-19 is not a consideration. More detail can be accessed here.

Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination

Following a recommendation from the Australian Health Protection Principle Committee (AHPPC) to National Cabinet, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced that healthcare workers would be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to continue to work.

On 11:50pm on 29 September 2021, the Acting Chief Health Officer Professor Benjamin Cowie issued a Public Health Order requiring that all healthcare operators must take all reasonable steps to ensure that its workers are vaccinated.

Western Health is required to comply with the Public Health Order and ensure that its employees have been fully vaccinated (two doses of COVID-19 vaccine) against COVID-19 including:

• Employees in clinical and non-clinical roles
• Casual employees
• Volunteers
• Students undertaking placement at Western Health
• Contractors (including agency staff)

The requirement to be vaccinated also applies to employees who are working from home. Where an employee is on long term leave, they cannot return to work until they have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Over the past month there have been emails and text messages sent to all employees where Western Health records indicated they had not been vaccinated against COVID-19, requesting that they complete a COVID-19 Vaccination Survey. This survey has also been available on the COVID-19 Vaccination microsite front page. The survey requested these staff to confirm whether they:

• have booked in to receive vaccination, or
• are planning on booking for vaccination, or
• have received the vaccination at another healthcare facility, or
• are choosing to decline COVID-19 vaccination.

On the week commencing 3 October a text message is being sent to all employees whose records still indicate that they are not vaccinated requesting them to consent to Western Health accessing their Australian Immunisation Register record to allow their records to be updated.

Employees will be unable to continue to work at Western Health in the following circumstances, from:

15 October 2021 – where employees:

• have not received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination; or
• do not have proof of a COVID-19 vaccination booking by 29 October 2021; or
• do not have a valid medical exemption.

29 October 2021 – where employees:

• have not provided proof they have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination; or
• do not have a valid medical exemption.

15 December 2021 – where employees:

• have not provided proof they have received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccination; or
• do not have a valid medical exemption.

Employees with a medical exemption will be able to continue working, but depending on their role may need to be redeployed.

If an employee does not have evidence in Western Health’s records of either being vaccinated or having a valid medical exemption; they must be treated as an unvaccinated healthcare worker. Please ensure that your records are up to date by completing the survey.

If employees have not provided evidence that they have received a COVID-19 vaccination (or both doses by 15 December 2021), a process will commence. This process that will investigate each case individually to understand the circumstances. Liaison and communication will occur with the affected employees to ensure that there is clarity on the process as this progresses.

Please refer to the Mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for healthcare workers FAQs on the COVID-19 Vaccination microsite.

COVID-19 Vaccination - our way out of this pandemic

The Western COVID Vaccination Hub will hit our 1,000,000th vaccination this month. That is an amazing milestone, and our sincere thanks to the incredible team that have made this possible.

We are working hard to ensure that our community is vaccinated, and the hard-to-reach and disadvantaged communities have access to vaccine. We are also trying to decrease obstacles wherever we can, including the reintroduction of walk-in appointments at some our sites that are located in local government areas that have lower vaccination rates.

Recently we worked with the Western Bulldogs and Cirqit Health to set up a pop-up vaccination hub  at the Whitten Oval (pictured right with Lisa Smith and CEO Russell Harrison). It was a booked out pop-up event, and it was great to see so many people rolling up their sleeves at this iconic spot in Footscray.

Western Health staff priority access vaccination:

A reminder that the Pfizer vaccine is available for first dose for all health care workers irrespective of age.

Western Health staff are able to ‘walk in’ at any of our Vaccination Hubs at any time to be able to get priority access to vaccination.

Changes to dose intervals:

From 4 October the following dose intervals are recommend to get as many people fully vaccinated as quickly as possible:

• Pfizer vaccine: now second dose is recommended at 3 weeks interval (range 3 – 6 weeks acceptable)
• Astrazeneca vaccine: now second dose is recommended at 6 weeks (range 4 – 12 weeks acceptable)
• Moderna vaccine: now second dose is recommended at 4 weeks (range 4 – 6 weeks acceptable)

Pfizer and Moderna eligibility for people 60 years and over:

The Australian Government has announced that people aged 60 years and over will be able to access Pfizer or Moderna through GPs, pharmacies, and community health services from 1 October 2021. This change in eligibility does not currently apply to Western Health vaccination hubs and other state-funded vaccination providers.  

Walk ins open for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people:

To support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to get their COVID-19 vaccine, walk in appointments are open at all vaccination centres across Victoria.

Moderna vaccine:

On 3 October 2021, some Western Health Vaccination Hubs commenced administering the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to individuals 18 years of age and older. Along with the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine is the preferred vaccine for people aged 18-59 years and pregnant women.

It is recommended that the vaccine is given in 2 doses administered 28-42 days apart (4-6 weeks) – 4 weeks preferred.

Boosters and third doses:

ATAGI is closely monitoring local and international data about the frequency and severity of COVID-19 in fully vaccinated individuals. ATAGI is also reviewing the international data on the efficacy, effectiveness and safety of additional doses for specific high-risk patient populations, including immunocompromised individuals, and the population more generally. These data will inform future strategies regarding additional vaccine doses.

Additional doses can be defined as:

• Third doses: Additional COVID-19 doses required as part of the primary course to reach a comparable (optimal) level of protection for a small cohort of individuals, such as those with severely immunocompromising conditions
• Booster dose: Additional COVID-19 doses required at a broader population level, to optimise protection due to waning of immunity (loss of protection) over time, with booster doses also leading to improved immune memory.

Read the complete ATAGI statement on the need for additional doses of COVID-19 vaccines

Welcome to Tony McGillion

This month on 18 October 2021 we welcome  Associate Professor Tony McGillion to the Nursing & Midwifery Team as our new Director of Nursing and Midwifery (Inspiring Innovation).

Tony joins us from La Trobe University where he is an Associate Professor of Clinical Nursing Practice and coordinates their leadership and management post-graduate programs for nursing and midwifery
and healthcare. Tony is also La Trobe University’s Director of Partnerships for the School of Health and is the Academic Program Director for the Bachelor of Nursing courses that run out of Singapore.

Tony has extensive leadership experience within the public health sector, having formally been in roles including the Clinical School Director for the La Trobe University/Royal Melbourne Hospital partnership and as a Nursing and Midwifery Workforce Senior Policy Advisor at the Department of Health.

Additionally Tony has previously led nursing education departments across a number of health
services including Austin Health, Cabrini Health and Epworth.

Tony comes with expertise and established networks in public health, government and academia; and
brings to the role significant experience and strength in leadership, which he provides through his
authenticity and ability to empower others to achieve their potential.

Please join me in welcoming Tony to Western Health.

New Nursing & Midwifery microsite

This month Nursing & Midwifery is launching our new microsite, which is a new resource to keep our nurses and midwives updated and allow for easy access to tools, information and documents.

The microsite will be frequently updated, with information relevant to nurses and midwives – so be sure to check it out and come back often!

Enterprise Agreement update

As part of the new nurses enterprise agreement, RosterOn has been amended to process new additional allowances, which include:

• Change of Roster Allowance (change was requested by Western Health 7 days or prior to shift) – Allowance of $68.00
• Change of Roster Allowance (change was requested by Western Health 8 to 14 days prior to shift) – Allowance of $34.00
• Lead Apron Allowance (wearing of a lead apron as part of your normal duties (e.g. in Radiology and the Cardiac Cath Lab) – Allowance is $8.24 per shift.

The Lead Apron Allowance was effective from 1 July 2020. Western Health is in the process of reviewing rosters to provide back pay to staff who are entitled to this allowance.

The amendments to the Change of Roster Allowance was effective from 1 July 2021 and if staff were paid a Change of Roster Allowance a process is being undertaken to ensure that you were paid the correct allowance rate.

The new amendments on RosterOn will go live from Monday 4 October 2021. If you have any questions about interpreting these allowances, do not hesitate to contact your relevant People and Culture Business Partner.

Nursing & Midwifery Research Grants closing soon

A reminder that applications for Western Health’s Nursing & Midwifery Research Grants to undertake dedicated nursing and/or midwifery research will close soon on Friday 15 October.

This year up to $20,000 per grant will be awarded this year for disbursement in 2022; one for nursing and one for midwifery related projects.

Applications of no more than 2,000 words are invited and must include the following:

• Research team details
• Aims and significance of proposed study
• Background/literature review
• Method including research design, interventions (if any) and analysis plan
• Timeline
• Budget

The following criteria will be used to assess applications:

• Value to Western Health: Will the proposed study add value to Western Health and improve Best Care?
• Research team: Do the team have sufficient skills and expertise to undertake the proposed study?
• Study justification and aim: Has a research gap been justified and is the aim important and achievable?
• Research Plan: Is the study design feasible and appropriate to meet the aims and research question?
• Feasibility: Are the goals concrete and achievable? Are there sufficient resources to undertake the study?

Applications must be submitted by email to WHDeakinPartnership@wh.org.au. Nurses and midwives are invited to seek support and advice from the Chair of Nursing, Professor Bodil Rasmussen Bodil.Rasmussen@wh.org.au or the Chair of Midwifery, Professor Linda Sweet Linda.Sweet@wh.org.au and their teams.

Benchmarking Best Care

The latest benchmark reports from the Health Roundtable that go up to June 2021 show how our delivery of Best Care compares to other health services across Australasia.

In our continuing series looking at nursing and midwifery key performance indicators, this month we will look at how we perform in the area of healthcare associated infections. This includes urinary tract infection, surgical site infection, pneumonia, blood stream infection, multi-resistant organism, infection associated with prosthetics/implantable devices, gastrointestinal infections and central line and peripheral line associated bloodstream infections.

Healthcare Associated Infections

Sunshine Hospital

Healthcare associated infections at Sunshine Hospital is in the green when compared to our peers, and keeping consistently low. This is a fantastic result.

Overall there has been a slight trending downwards, except for a blip. As we wear PPE over the coming COVID surge we will need to remember to always change gloves between patients and practice good hand hygiene.

Well done to our Sunshine Hospital teams.

Footscray Hospital

Healthcare associated infections at Footscray Hospital is in the midrange when compared to our peers, and keeping consistent in the amber zone. This is a good result.

Overall there has been a steady downward trend, which is pleasing.

Congratulations to our Footscray teams for keeping our patients free from hospital associated preventable infections.

Hybrid Mattresses now available for Hire

The Pressure Injury Action Advisory Committee have now endorsed the hiring of a powered Hybrid Mattress for patients assessed as high risk of a Pressure Injury who are refusing an air mattress or that are non-compliant with pressure area care.

As we are seeing many more patients admitted to hospital with existing pressure injuries indicating our patients are presenting more deconditioned than previously experienced. As you know, this doesn’t leave much time for a stage 1 or 2 pressure injury to develop into a stage 3 pressure injury, DTI or Unstageable pressure injury. These patients need to be identified quickly and the appropriate mattress/PIP strategy initiated as soon as possible.

Hybrid Mattresses have been widely researched and are evidenced as the gold standard in preventing pressure injuries. They are well tolerated by patients and can be swapped from a powered air mattress mode, to a static mode in under 90 seconds, without having to move the patient off the bed.

These mattresses can now be hired on a weekly basis through Rehab Hire.

For more information, contact Bec Woltsche (Acting ADON Improving Care)

Neonatal Intensive Care (NIC) Discovery Program

The NIC Discovery Program commenced in July 2018. The main aim was to build specialist nursing knowledge and skills in NIC in preparation for the move into JKWC in 2019, the planned increase in neonatal cot capacity and opening of the first funded NIC cots in the west of Melbourne.

The University of Melbourne (UoM) and The Women’s Hospital partnered with Western Health to provide academic and clinical placement opportunities in NIC. Women’s & Children’s Division financially support the academic costs of this program, as well as 2.0 FTE Clinical Nurse Educators who provide clinical support to postgraduates at JKWC NBS and The Women’s NICU.

An annual, highly competitive selection process has led to twelve successful applicants completing this program to date, and a further nine staff are currently enrolled. Successful applicants undertake study and practice over eighteen months to complete a Graduate Certificate in Neonatal Intensive Care (GC-NIC) with UoM.

Success of the program has been measured by high completion and retention rates; 100% of staff commencing the NIC Discovery Program in 2018 and 2019 completed the GC-NIC, with an 83% retention rate.  70% of those remaining at WH work in senior leadership positions within NBS (ANUM or CNS roles).

Program evaluation is on-going and has demonstrated that previous graduates and current participants are meeting academic, industry and workforce requirements in NIC.  The partnerships developed between WH and The Women’s enable us to offer clinical practice opportunities across two NICUs, a model which confers a broader understanding of NIC processes in our graduates. The motivation and commitment of all NIC Discovery Program stakeholders has resulted in this program becoming a sought-after specialist nursing career progression pathway in NBS.

Mavis Mitchell Memorial Scholarship

Are you currently undertaking a research project or service improvement to benefit our clients or the community serviced by Western Health?

If this is you, then consider applying for the $5,000 Mavis Mitchell Memorial Scholarship Grant which can provide financial assistance to help further your endeavours.

In previous years, the applicants present their application at the annual Research and Best Care Conference.  Unfortunately this can’t happen this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to this change the applicants will present their applications to the Western Health Selection Committee in November 2021.

Closing date: Close of business 29 October 2021 Applications received after this date will not be considered

Applications sent to:
Scholarships Registrar
Education & Learning
Footscray Hospital, Gordon Street Footscray 3011
Email: whs-ceadmin@wh.org.au

For further information click here.

EMR Phase 2 - New Go-Live Date

Early this year work commenced on Western Health’s EMR Phase 2 project, the largest digital health venture ever undertaken by this organisation.  In the Western Health sites which currently use the EMR, this next phase will extend the EMR functionality to areas that are currently needing to swap between electronic systems or between electronic and paper processes.

Since late June, hundreds of clinical and administrative representatives from the areas who will use the new EMR functionalities have attended workshops to advise on the design and build, and either validate the design or ask for further refinements. We greatly appreciate the significant input these staff are providing.  Their expertise and their thorough step by step consideration is important to ensure the EMR supports Best Care.

Recently, our Cerner EMR colleagues have experienced unexpected staffing challenges which have led to delays in the EMR build for some clinical areas.

The Project Director, Executive Team and our CEO Russell have held a number of discussions with Cerner regarding these challenges and have agreed to reschedule the commencement of the next round of workshops (Sprint 4) to Monday 29 November 2021. This will mean that the EMR Phase 2.1 Go-Live will be shifted to the second quarter of 2023. As has always been the case, Western Health will only ever Go-Live with our EMR when it is clinically safe to do so.

Please feel free to watch this short Introduction to EMR Phase 2 video to learn more about this exciting venture.  Through the delivery of EMR Phase 2, and associated digital health projects, we will endeavor to elevate Western Health to fully digital health status, empower our staff and patients with information and deliver on our vision of Connecting Best Care.

Thank you for your continued support for this cornerstone in our Digital Health aspirations.  If you have any queries please contact Lily Liu, Director, Digital Health – Lily.Liu@wh.org.au

Happy First Birthday to the Relative Enquiry Line

One year after the October 2020 launch, the Relative Enquiry Line (REL) continues to be a valuable asset for patient’s loved ones to receive an update on patient status, as well as reduce the number of calls to the nursing and midwifery teams on the wards.

Outside of ward clerk hours, calls to the Western Health switchboard are diverted to the REL instead of to the wards, where a team of nurses have access to the EMR information about the patient and have the authority and knowledge to provide an update to relatives.

Acting Director of Nursing & Midwifery Informatics, Kylee Ross, said the feedback from callers had been positive since the launch, and it had been a great assistance to nurses and midwives over the past 12 months by reducing the numbers of calls to the ward.

“The Relative Enquiry Line has allowed nurses and midwives to keep patient’s loved ones updated while reducing interruptions on the ward, helping staff to maintain correct PPE usage and patient care at all times,” Kylee said.

“Especially during a busy time like the pandemic, resources like the REL are becoming increasingly important.”

More than 2,000 calls have been made to the REL this year, with most calls seeking a patient update, wanting to speak to a doctor or nurse, or wanting to speak to a patient.

Partnering with our Consumers

Do you have a consumer involved in service planning for your area?
Western Health is committed to partnering with our consumers and community

• To improve quality and safety
• To improve health outcomes
• To provide services that are responsive to the needs of our community

Each month, we will share a consumer profile , You can find out more about our Consumer Advisor Team at Western Health by contacting Jo Spence- Manager, Consumer Partnerships – jo.spence@wh.org.au

Octobers Consumer: Shefton

I love my community and its diversity. I am proud to bring my own lived experience and represent my community along with other Consumer Advisors to support Western Health deliver the very best care, and ensure Western Health are accountable to the community as they do so. I enjoy bringing a consumer community lens to service and policy redesign as it builds collaboration and cooperation between Western Health staff and the community they service. Together we can do so much more.

Emerging Evidence

The Western Health Library Service is a great source for locating the latest nursing and midwifery related evidence based practice and research. The COVID-19 articles below are available open access.

• Physiotherapy-assisted prone or modified prone positioning in ward-based patients with COVID-19: a retrospective cohort study. Physiotherapy. 2021: September Full text
• The origins of SARS-CoV-2: A critical review. Cell. 2021: August 18. Full text
• The biological and clinical significance of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. Nature Reviews Genetics. 2021: September 17 Full text
• Nurses’ perceptions of social rejection, resilience and well-being during COVID-19: A national comparative study. Journal of Clinical Nursing. 2021: September 12 Full text
• Barriers to nutritional therapy in the critically ill patient with COVID-19 Disease. Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. 2021: September Full text
• ‘From Expert to Novice’, perceptions of general ward nurses on deployment to outbreak intensive care units during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative descriptive study. Journal of Clinical Nursing. 2021: August Full text
• Physical recovery of COVID-19 pneumosepsis intensive care survivors compared with non-COVID pneumosepsis intensive care survivors during post–intensive care hospitalization: The RECOVID retrospective cohort study. Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. 2021: August Full text
• Prevalence, incidence and mortality of delirium in patients with COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Age and Ageing. 2021: September Full text
• Phase 3 safety and efficacy of AZD1222 (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19) Covid-19 vaccine. New England Journal of Medicine. 2021: September 29 Full text

New eBook Titles

• Supervising and assessing student nurses and midwives in clinical practice: a practical guide. Lantern Publishing, 2021. Supervising and Assessing Student Nurses and Midwives in Clinical Practice provides a practical guide for healthcare practitioners responsible for the supervision and assessment of students. The book is designed to help practice supervisors and practice assessors: to identify and plan for a range of learning opportunities to consider what is possible for learning and assessment in their area to get ready for and deliver the best learning experiences that they can to prepare students for their role as future nurses and midwives.
• Impacts of Rationing and Missed Nursing Care: Challenges and Solutions: RANCARE Action. Springer, 2021. This book reveals how economic restrictions and limited healthcare resources, combined with growing care demands due to advanced technology and more care options, have to a great extent contributed to increased workloads for healthcare professionals and put them under pressure to prioritize their work. This has led to the rationing of care, i.e., to decision-making processes on the allocation of scarce resources, especially human resources, and on which care activities take priority over others; in turn, these processes have led to unfinished or missed care, which has serious implications for quality of care and patient safety.

For those undertaking Leadership Pathway courses you might find the library’s collection of print and eBooks on Management and Leadership useful. Links to some health management journals is also provided.

Please note: these eBook title links (on-site) should take you seamlessly to the full text of the eBook. Off-site or home access requires free library membership. If you are not a member you can Join Online. For more information Click on our FAQ page.

Visit the library’s Intranet website, or ring the library to speak with a Librarian: 8395 8036 or 8345 6655. Working from home? Visit the Library Internet site.